THIS IS NOT ANTI-AMERICAN!!!

i wanted to state that in the title because i don't want to have to continually preface my comments with that throughout.

a couple weeks ago, i went to a training session in saskatoon. it was for an organization called UPWARD, a christian group that offers training on sports camps and leagues and how to run them in your community through the church. anyway, so a group of pastors, associate pastors, youth leaders, and church volunteers met for this training session. before we started, there was the typical introductions and hello's over coffee. one of the leaders of UPWARD comes from the great state of South Carolina. upon realizing that, one of my young comrade associate pastors made a comment that really got me thinking...

"Well, at least in the USA, you guys have better morals that we do up here in Canada!"

i tend to disagree. this is not because i think all americans are immoral and canadians are moral. i mean, we are only separated by an imaginary line on a map, so i don't think our morals are that different. and i think there is much immorality in canada that far surpasses that of america. he wasn't talking about the american and canadian people. he was speaking of government policies. and this is where my strong disagreement comes in to play. he looks at legislation against homosexual marriage and attempts to block out abortion on part of the politicians, and assumes that is what makes a country moral. now, in canada, we allow gay marriage and in fact are even currently honoring dr. henry morgetaler, the man who most would say is responsible for making abortion legal in canada. so i guess if you only look at those two issues, and you are against both those things, america might be considered a more moral place than canada. but i tend to look beyond those things. i think morality is something that the church has put a stranglehold on and limited to these two issues. i don't think that is a surprise or a shocking statement to most out there. maybe you disagree. i do think that's changing, but that is the way it has been and currently is. to be moral in politics means to oppose gay marriage and abortion. but it's so much bigger than that.

in canada, we offer free health care to everyone. in america, the government does not. now, you can say whatever you want about the broken canadian system. and you are right, it does need to be overhauled and fixed in some way. but currently, anyone in canada who needs to see a doctor can do so, without paying bills, without worrying if their family will be able to eat because they went to get a check up, without dying on the streets for lack of an available doctor that's not going to charge them out their anus. anus...that's a funny word. i believe that is moral. free health care is something that everyone in the world should get, and our government has given that to us.

last month, i received money from the canadian government. i have two children, and so the government gives differing amounts of money based on your income to families with children. isn't that remarkable? maybe people without kids feel screwed because it's their tax money that supports programs like this, but i believe that caring for families with small children is a moral issue, and our government has done this. as far as i know, there are no similar programs in the USA. maybe i'm wrong.

for a long time, canadians have been embarrassed about their military. we have been seen as weaklings, only interested in peacekeeping, and not wanting to be directly involved in fighting wars, such as in iraq. i am proud of my military for this very same reason. why should we feel shame for being a nation of peacekeepers rather than a nation of war-mongers? now, this is a very moral issue. and i don't think canada is guilt free. i am not saying we have never done anything wrong on the military front. but our military should not be ashamed, nor should we be ashamed of them, for the role they play in keeping peace in the world.

now, these are simply a few issues. my point is not that canada is better than america. like i said before, there is just a stupid imaginary line that separates the two. their shortcomings are our own. our shortcomings belong to them as well. we are the west. we are together. my point is not political. my point is that the church needs to start evaluating what they consider to be moral issues. i know it was just one young man's comment at some meaningless group meeting, but i believe his comment is common thinking among christians in canada and the USA, that gay marriage and abortion define what is moral and what is not. we need to broaden our definitions. we need to see morality as something bigger than hot button issues. where does caring for the poor fit in? where does violence and hatred fit in? how about divorce within our churches? we let slide the things that are uncomfortable for us to confront, and we attack the things that are foreign to us. that's the way we have always worked. we need a seismic shift in our thinking if we want this world to change. i suppose the problem is that most christians don't want the world to change. most christians want the world to fall apart so that Jesus will come back with his sword on a cloud of glory. end times theology aside, these are simply the ramblings of a young man trying to figure out what the point is of living as a christian in the world if we are only known as bigots and pro-lifers. i'm not saying we need to change our convictions. i am pro-life. but i am also pro-all-of-life. and i have met people who believe being gay is a sin and we shouldn't allow them to marry, but they approach it in a way that is loving towards everyone they meet. it's okay to disagree. it's not okay to hate our brothers and sisters.

i don't want imaginary lines to get in the way of loving brothers and sisters. and i won't let them. but we need to radically change our way of thinking within the church. we need to quit promoting these imaginary lines within the church that prevent people from coming to know God. i'd rather be known by what i am for than what i am against.